Progressively downloaded media programs provide end users the ability to start the presentation of a media program before the media program is completely downloaded. More specifically, downloaded portions of the media program are used to support initial playback while the remainder of the media program continues downloading in the background. During playback of progressively downloaded media programs stored in common audio/video container formats, some playback features may be limited or unavailable. This occurs because the index file for common audio/video file container formats is generally included at the end of the container file. The index file generally contains critical information about the media program and as a result, certain playback features dependent on information in the index file are generally unavailable during presentation of progressively downloaded media programs.
A need therefore arises for a system and method for presenting progressively downloaded media programs.